Stay With Me Forever
by WitsLooksPassion
Summary: Love was a big deal to me. I loved everyone, and making others happy made me the same. And yet here I was, hurting someone who treasured me above all else, all because this love-his love-scared me to death. And I just can't bring myself to let him in.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: Just a little side note to get started. Oh, and those of you who are ACTUALLY reading this author's note, I give you my servere thanks. I find myself skipping through these to hurry and get to the "good part". Anyway, my first idea for this story came from none other than my fellow fanfiction writers. I happen to be keeping up with a very well-written story of Jared and Kim, and I realized mid-sentence that I had never really explored ideas of the pack. I'm a Jacob lover, and I always find myself centering myself around him, but I feel like everyone is tired with hearing the same old Jacob/OC stories now that he has finally found his someone. And so, I can't bring myself to pretend that Renesmee doesn't exist in the Twilight world, and have chosen to gone down a different, much less explored path. With that being said, here is my first shot at an Embry Call story. I hope you enjoy it, review often, and keep checking up for updates. _

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><p>Nothing in this world is more beautiful to me than the laughter of a child.<p>

I could sit exactly where I was, leaning comfortably against one the the faded red columns on Emily and Sam's front porch, for hours and hours and never get tired of watching the baby girl explore the "world" before her; as a four year old, the front yard _was_ her world. The bright, blooming flowers that Emily had planted along the stone walkway completely entranced her, and I laughed as she held one hand over a particularly pretty purple tulip, as if debating whether or not she should pick it. Her pudgy hand hovered undecidedly in space right above the flower, before finally giving in to her wants and snatching the flower out of the ground. She ran, wobbling all the way, toward the front porch where I was perched, squealing all the way.

"Pwetty flowaa! For you!" she exclaimed happily, holding it out to me. I took it from her graciously, honestly very pleased that she had given me the little present. I scooped her off the ground and set her into my lap, where she happily turned toward me and grabbed a strand of hair that had been hanging over my shoulder.

"Thank you, Claire-Bear. You're so sweet." I kissed her on the forehead, making her giggle and tug on my hair. She made no move to climb down from my lap, so I wrapped my arms around her and let her settle herself in, as I knew from weeks of experience that she would do. She sighed blissfully, and I layed my head back against the pole, silently enjoying the rarity of a sunny day in Forks, Washington with a suddenly very sleepy toddler.

A few stolen moments later, a blue chevy that I recognized as Quil Arteara's pulled up in the driveway.

It must be five o'clock already; every day at this exact time without fail, Quil made an appearance at Sam and Emily's. He hopped out of the truck, smiling all the way up the walkway, and waved happily when he spotted me sitting on the edge of the front porch. I waved back and rose, ever so gently as to not wake the peacefully napping child in my arms, to open the door for him.

As we made our way, not speaking, into the house, Quil silently offered out his arms, his eyes locked on Claire's sleeping face. I obliged, of course, and watched after him as he carried her down the short hallway and into the guest room that had recently been renovated for Claire, since she had been spending almost every day at her aunt and uncle's place. The gentle expression he wore as he walked her back was unmistakable. I had only known Quil for a few weeks, but his face always lit up when he was around Claire. It was actually very sweet; I had never met a teenage boy that loved children this much. He even spent his precious free time here, playing countless games with her for hours, when he should really be out doing whatever normal things sixteen year old boys do. Maybe smashing windows and playing xbox, for example.

Quil emerged from the room a few minutes later, pulling the door to without the slightest sound, and walked right over and plopped down on the couch.

"She's taking her nap early today, huh?" he asked as he grabbed two of the hand-sewn throw pillows and shoved them behind his back.

"Yeah," I answered him, turning to pick up the few toys that were scattered across the livingroom floor. "She's been playing outside since it stopped raining around noon. Poor kid is completly wiped out."

He nodded, knowing from experience that Claire used up every ounce of energy in her little four year old body until she all but fell asleep standing.

"You know, it means a lot to Emily and Claire's mom that you come watch her every day. They'd be stuck without you."

"Oh, it's really no problem at all." I waved away his thanks with a flutter of my free hand. "It's not like I know anyone around here anyway."

It was completely true though, not just me being modest. Although I had lived here almost two months now, I was finding it very hard to meet anyone I could possibly have any form of friendship with. Forks was a small enough town, just like back home, and it was difficult to infiltrate preexisting friendships that had been built over lifetimes. Having lived in the same pin-sized town in Georgia for my entire sixteen years of life, I knew this all too well. Being the new girl was hard, especially in the middle of summer, which is why I was so thankful that I had met Emily when I had, and that she had offered me a way to spend my days.

And turns out, I really did love watching little Claire, and the company Quil brought me with it.

"I was actually going to talk to you about that." Quil said, with an excited gleam in his eye.

I turned and walked the few feet into the kitchen, where I could fill up a vase with water so I could preserve my tulip for a little longer. It was just too pretty to go to waste, and I was sure Emily wouldn't mind having the new addition to her kitchen table for a while.

"About how being new sucks?" I called over my shoulder jokingly.

Quil laughed easily. "Well, not exactly. But we can discuss your sad, lonely life if you want." he teased. I laughed and rolled my eyes at the jab.

"Well while we're at it, we may want to go over your steriod use." I had walked back into the livingroom, and poked him playfully in the stomach. I took a second to realize that it had actually hurt a little to jab my finger into his ridiculously formed abs. He didn't notice, of course, and stretched himself so that he was lounging completely across the couch. His hulking form almost looked like it would crush the poor sofa if he moved in the slightest, even with half his body hanging off the edge.

"Ha ha. Very original," he rolled his eyes as I had a moment before, and grinned at me. "You'll have to make up some better comebacks if you want me to save your social life."

"Yes sir, Superman." I answered with a sly smile. "And my social life isn't in need of a _rescue_. Just a jumpstart maybe."

"Your social life is holding onto the top edge of the Empire State building with two fingers, and slipping."

"Hey now," I laughed goodnaturedly.

"It's basically a suicide mission," he continued jokingly. "But I've decided that I'll lend a helping hand."

"Well aren't you just my knight in shining armor." I made a face at him so he knew I was being sarcastic. "What did you have in mind?"

Quil sat up, suddenly very animated. "Tomorrow night we're having a huge bonfire out on First Beach for the Fourth of July. You know, fireworks and food and all that. And I know how you so desperatly need a social outing, so I'm offically inviting you to join us."

I chewed on my lip, torn. It was in my nature to jump at the chance for anything that sounded as fun as this, and especially at the chance to finally get introduced to people my own age. I was a true social butterfly, but only when I was within my element. Being around a group of people I had never even seen before in my life sounded like a horror movie to me; as much as I loved people, I was overwhelmingly shy around strangers if they outnumbered the people I knew. I could see myself standing on the outskirts on the party, unsure and dreading the entire thing. And that did _not_ exactly seem appealing to me.

"It's terribly sweet of you to invite me, but I don't know..." I trailed off, not bothering to finish my thought. I was still weighing the options, playing scenerios in my head.

"Come on, it'll be fun! I'll be there, and so will Claire and Sam and Emily. We'll make sure you're not alone, and everyone is really great. You'll love it." he urged. I could tell he was sincere, that he wouldn't leave me stranded in a crowd of strangers, and that made me feel a little better.

"Well..." I was still unsure, but the societal girl in me was taking over.

"Allie, you're coming if I have to forcefully remove you from your house." Quil threatened. He was obviously joking, but for some reason I felt he would take action on this if he needed to. And personally, I wouldn't want an enormous guy break into my house and kidnap me, even to bring me to a party.

"Fine! I'll come." I half-heartedly agreed, afraid that I would regret it. "But there had better be fireworks."

What I didn't know at that moment, was that there _would_ be fireworks. Oh man, would there be fireworks.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: Such a relief to have that first chapter out of the way! Please, R&R! Reviews make my day, even if they're not praise. So go!_

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><p><em>Everything here was so clear. It was unlike anything I'd ever witnessed in these fleeting sixteen years. Every branch was defined, each leaf so sharp that I believed them to have razor edges; I nearly dove out of the way when one came fluttering down from the top of one of the huge oaks surrounding me in this unreal, yet frighteningly lucid forest. Sunlight poured through the holes where the branches of the trees were unconnected to those of another. Rays of light darted through and filled the space all around me with warm, golden light. A mockingbird was singing idly somewhere out of my sight, and a few moments later it turned into a duet, with another answering the first's call even farther off into the trees.<em>

_I closed my eyes and offered myself up the the servere tranquility and beauty here, my head tilted towards the light so that it could brush my face with its warm fingers._

_"Allie."_

_My eyes flew open. I had supposed myself alone here in these disturbingly perfect woods, but the voice—excessively foreign and unknown to me, though beautiful in every sense—made me realize that I had been very wrong. Although I was sure the visitor hadn't made their self visible in those earlier moments, I could see him just as clearly as now as I had seen everything else at first_.

_The stranger made no advance toward me, nor a retreat. He stood perfectly still, dark eyes piercing into mine with such force I felt as if I should have stumbled backwards. The silence drug on for what seemed like ages, each of staring expressionlessly at the other. _

_And then I couldn't help myself. I took a step toward him, pausing for a moment to gauge his reaction. He seemed unphased, and his eyes remained locked on my face as if ordered to be there. So I trecked forward very carefully, one step at a time, so slow that my muscles began to ache, all the while watching him watch me. _

_Eventually, I was less than a foot away from him, this perfect, flawless man that somehow knew my name. He was looking down at me now; he stood at least a foot over me, and I knew that he could easily break me with only one of his perfectly muscled arms. But, more than that, I knew that he wouldn't. He was here to protect me, from the dangers I had failed to fathom in this disturbingly perfect forest. He would never let me fall._

_As I had this unforseen epiphany, the man reached out for my hand, taking it in his oversized one. His skin was hot, open flame hot, but the temperature seemed perfect against my skin. He placed my small hand on his cheek, cream against russett, and smiled blissfully. He mouthed something to me, something that was at first insigificant to me because of the unknown language. But the longer I stared into his eyes, I relaized I understood his foreign words._

_Que Quowle._

_Stay with me forever._

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><p>I jolted upright with a gasp<em>, <em>my hand automatically flying to my throat; this was an ancient habit of mine, dating back to the first time I could actually _feel_ surprised. I looked around the room wildly, baffled by my surroundings. It took me a long minute to realize that I was actually in my room, in my house, and still in Forks. But I was completely perplexed; the forest had seemed so unbelieveably _real _to me, more real even than my room felt to me now.

And that man.

He had seemed so real that he should be standing right next to me now, asking why I looked so troubled after just waking up. I closed my eyes and tried to focus on his face, bringing him back with my memory. But I found that it was impossible; his features were hidden behind murky glass, as if my selfconcious thought it better if I had no memory of him at all.

I laughed at myself when I realized that I was disappointed. I really needed to get out of the house.

I made my way downstairs, after I had grudgingly removed myself from my wonderfully warm bed, showered, and changed. No one was home, as the usual during the week. Both of my parents worked Monday thru Friday, leaving me with the place to myself almost every day during summer vacation. But this was nothing new to me; ever since I was eleven, I was permitted to stay home alone while my parents went off to work. And now it was just a lonely, lackluster feeling that crept up on me now.

The time on the stove read 3:45, which meant I had about three hours until I had to find my way down to First Beach. I had only been there once, when I had taken Claire to play with one of her little friends one sunny day last week. It was pretty enough; dark sand and darker waves, with enormous rocks scattered along the shore. It just couldn't compare to the sugar-white beaches back home.

I meandered around the house for the rest of the afternoon, trying to keep myself busy and my nerves from creeping up on me and hindering me unable to make myself go tonight. I washed some laundry that desperately needed to be done, put away dishes and even unpacked some boxes that I hadn't gotten around to since we had moved here. Time moved annoyingly slow, as if just to aggravate me, but eventually, I wandered upstairs to raid my closet for something to make myself look somewhat presentable.

After a good twenty minutes of looking, and the realization that I _really_ needed to go shopping, I decided on a casual white sundress. I had been iffy at first, since it was strapless and the material was kind of thin, but the weather report said the rain was supposed to clear up tonight, so I thought I would be fine. I let my hair down-it was getting longer than I normally had it, hanging several inches below my shoulders-and tried to tame the unruly waves as well as I could. I stood in front of my full-length mirror when I was finished, and sighed. This was as good as it was going to get.

Ten minutes later, I was on my way to First Beach. I had to drive through La Push to get there, and I knew from my one-time experience that I was almost there once the houses got smaller and farther apart. Soon, I turned down the gravel road and pulled into the makeshift parking lot that stood only a few yards from the shore.

I couldn't make myself get out of the car. My hand hesitated right above the door handle until I chaged my mind and let it drop back into my lap. It was dark now, and I could just see the blue and green flames of the driftwood fire licking at the night sky. I saw bodies moving around it, not as many as I had expected, but the faces were blurred by the distance. I took a deep breath and layed my head on the steering wheel. _I can do this_, I thought to myself. _I've done this a million times before. Just smile and be friendly, and it should all be fine. Its going to be fine._

There was a sharp knock on my window, making my head shoot up, and my hand go to my throat. Quil had his face pressed up against the glass, smiling goofily at the fact that he had startled me. I relaxed a little then, and finally found it within myself to get out of the car.

"What were you doing?" Quil asked me as I shut the door behind myself.

"Trying not to scream and run away." I answered honestly, but with a small laugh to try and lighten my mood.

"Well its a good thing you didn't, because its time to come down to the beach. You're already late." he elbowed me, letting me know he was only kidding.

"Fashionably." I corrected him. He rolled his eyes before grabbing hold on my arm, a death grip to make sure I didn't try to escape, and pulled me out of the parking lot and into the hard sand.

_Its all going to be fine, _I chanted to myself as we neared the small group. _Its all going to be fine._

Emily spotted us first. She ran up excitedly, hugging both of us and kissing me on the cheek. Sam was right behind her, a small smile on his stern face. I had known him just long enough to know that ths was probably the best we would get out of him.

"You look beautiful, Allie!" Emily exclaimed, running her fingers through the bottom of my hair. "I'm glad you decided to come. For a while there, we thought you weren't going to show up."

"I found her hiding in her car, but I dragged her down." Quil piped up, obviously proud of himself. I shot him a look; I was going to elbow him in the side instead, but I decided that it wasn't worth the bruise I would surely get.

"At least she made it to the parking lot." Emily joked, still smiling. She was such a carefree, happy woman. Beautiful, even with the long scars marring the side of her face. You would never know that she had been through a traumatic experience, which was still a mystery to me. She didn't speak of it often.

"I do what I can," I answered with a small smile.

"Come on, Allie. I want to introduce you to everyone." Emily grabbed my hand, grinning in anticipation, and pulled me away from Sam and Quil.

We made our rounds quickly. Emily seemed determined to introduce me to everyone there, so I only had time to politely greet the people we spoke to before she pulled me away to speak to the next few people.

I met the Clearwaters; Sue, who was very intimidating to say the least, her daughter, Leah, who was just as equally scary and shard the same sharp facial features as her mother. The youngest boy, Seth, had been somewhere off in the crowd, but jogged over once he saw me and Emily standing there. He seemed to have gotten all the social genes in the family, and was extremely sweet and honestly pleased to talk to me. I would have to come back to him if I found myself an outcast.

Next were the Blacks, Billy, Jacob and Rachel. Billy was a great presence, even in his wheelchair, and I felt as if I was speaking to someone very important. Rachel, his daughter, was a few years older than I was, but greeted me with a smile on her small face. I didn't get to speak to Jacob, Billy's youngest, but Emily pointed him out across the way. He was talking to Quil, and two other Quileute boys that I didn't recognize.

We said our temporary goodbyes to them, and Emily pulled me off in the other direction while she searched for someone else for me to meet. While she scanned the crowd, my attention was diverted by Quil's distinctive voice yelling over the rest of the party.

"About time, man!" he called toward the parking lot. Through the dark, I could just see a tall figure moving down the hill and toward the bonfire.

"Nice to see you too, Quil!" the figure called back, his voice deep and smooth and oddly familar. I strained to see through the cloak of darkness, to see if I recognized this boy's face. I knew the voice, that was for certain. It had rang out so clearly that I was sure I would have heard it even if I wasn't trying to listen to it.

Emily pulled me away before the boy had come into my line of vision. I threw a fleeting glance over my shoulder, hoping to catch a glimpse, but we had moved to the other side of the bonfire, and the towering flames were blocking my view.

"Kim, Jared!" Emily greeted a young couple sitting on one of the precariously placed logs around the fire. The looked up at her and smiled, and then waved us over.

"Allie," Emily began, "this is Kim Cornweller and Jared Cameron. Kim, Jared, this is Allie Moore. She just moved here a few months ago from Georgia." Emily smiled happily, though she had used the exact same introduction to at least nine others.

I smiled at the two politely, trying not to make it too obvious that I was scanning the thin crowd for a familiar face.

"Do you mind if I leave you here for a second, Allie? I have to use the little girl's room." Emily asked. Immediately, I told her yes, though I was a little nervous about her leaving, though only for a second. Emily was my security blanket. She smiled and patted my arm, and then turned and darted up the beach.

"I don't mean to intrude," I began automatically. There was something about the way Kim and Jared looked at each other that made me feel like I was interrupting a very special moment. It almost made me uneasy, though it was a beautiful thing. A young couple in love was always inspiring to me.

"Oh no," Kim laughed easily and used the free hand that wasn't holding Jared's to pat the seat next to her. "You're not I promise."

I smiled back at her and sat where she had indicated, feeling just a little bit awkward.

"So Georgia, huh?" Jared leaned around Kim to address me, kissing her cheek as he moved. She beamed at his touch.

I nodded. "But no, I didn't drive a tractor, wear overalls, and sit on my front porch with a gun all day." I said jokingly.

"Well there goes all my questions." Jared joked back. Kim and I laughed. I had the feeling she would laugh at just about anything he said.

He looked past me, staring at something behind my head for a split second. His expression changed, becoming puzzled. A moment later, he seemed to have figured out whatever it was that had confused him, and a big grin spread across his face.

"What?" Kim asked him quietly, obviously wanting to be in on the secret. Instead of answering her, he looked to me.

"Have you met Embry yet?" he asked me simply. I furrowed my brows at him, and then turned around to see what had made him act so strangely.

A pair of painfully familiar black eyes met mine from across the fire. They were wide, stunned and full of so many emotions that I was afraid to know what they were seeing. But then I realized that were seeing me. Only me.

I looked away quickly, my cheeks flaring red. I could feel the same stare burning into my back-no, not a burning. A glowing, a sensation that should have been calming, but intead just scared me half to death. I took a deep breath and turned back around. We locked eyes again, and this time I gasped audibly.

_Dark eyes piercing into mine with such force I felt as if I should have stumbled backwards...this perfect, flawless man that somehow knew my name...he __was here to protect me, from the dangers I had failed to fathom. He would never let me fall..._

It was him. The man from my dream.


	3. Chapter 3

_Embry POV_

Heaven. That's where I must be.

Though nothing around me was any physically different-the fire still raged, friends still chattered, and the waves continued to crash quietly onto the night-blackened shore-I knew that everything had changed. In this split second, this whirlwind of chance, my entire world had fallen apart. As the pieces of my life shattered down around me, I was oddly calm. Assured, even, because I knew that it would all come back together. As I stared across the green flames of the great bonfire, she was unconciously taking each aspect of my life, flipping it, and placing it back together with the rest, and leaving traces of herself with each repair.

Everything made perfect sense to me now. I could clearly see why I had had been born with the shifting gene, why I had been born at all. Why I woke up each morning, and why I risked my life each day protecting La Push from the Cold Ones. For her, all for her. It had always been for her.

Suddenly, I couldn't find a single thing in my life to be angry about. The constant arguing with my mom, my aggravation with Sam as the Alpha, my regret of ever living this way...it all seemed exteremly insignificant to me now that I was looking into the most beautiful eyes ever created.

It was her. It was _finally_ her.

It had only been a short moment since we had locked eyes from across the beach, but so much had happened to me internally in that time, that I felt as if I had aged twenty years. She turned away from me suddenly, whipping her head around in a movement that sent her chocolate waves flying around her. My heart dropped when I couldn't see her face anymore. Just when I was about to make a move closer, to try and grace myself with her extreme beauty once again, she turned back around.

This time, her expression was different. The innocent curiosity had vanished from her perfect features; now they held very prominent traces of bewilderment, and even fear.

My stomach clenched. Was I the one she was afraid of?

I had to force myself look away, to try to let her calm down. I thought that maybe I was freaking her out with the staring; after all, if some stranger had been looking at me the way I was surely looking at her, I'd be a little afraid myself.

Emily walked past me then, and as a half-hearted distraction-I was finding it almost impossible to keep from shooting desperate glances back across the beach-I grabbed her by the arm and pulled her over.

"Embry, you almost gave me a heart-attack!" Emily clutched at her heart, laughing nervously. I didn't realize how tightly wound I had been, and I surely didn't mean to take it out on Emily's arm.

"I'm sorry, Em." I mumbled, throwing another look over the fire.

"Is something the matter?" Emily, with her crazy accurate maternal instincts. I took a deep breath, not exactly wanting to get into the details right this instant. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I had just imprinted on a mysterious, beautiful girl. And she was sitting not fifteen yards from when I stood. I looked over my shoulder, again in vain.

Instead of explaining, I simply asked, "do you know who that is?" and nodded nonchalantly over to where she sat. Something was tugging at my stomach, gently, as if guiding me somewhere that I desperately wanted to be.

"Oh, of course! That's Allie. You should go introduce yourself. She just moved here, you know." Emily answered happily.

_Allie. So beautiful._

"I should probably do that." I mumbled back, mostly to myself.

Allie.

I had to meet her.

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><p><em>AN: Hey y'all! I know this was a shorter chapter than usual, but the actual POV from Embry was longer than I expected it to be, and I felt as though I needed to split the chapters so I wouldn't end up with one, dreadfully long one. I love the reviews, even though there's currently two, but those two are keeping this story going! So give a big thank you out to them. I may come back and edit this chapter later if I get around to it, but for now, I hope you liked it!_


	4. Chapter 4

I was so caught up in this surreal moment that I hadn't even noticed when the rain started.

It wasn't until Kim grabbed my hand and yanked me from my seat, forcing me to very unwillingly advert my eyes from _him_, that I even felt the cool drizzle tickling my suddenly enflamed skin.

And then the downpour started.

I was being pulled through the frantic crowd-some people obviously disappointed, and others laughing good-naturedlly while they ran to their cars-my mind far, far behind me. I felt a sense of emptiness as we manuvered our way through the dispersing crowd, as though I had left my body back at the log, and it was just a ghost of myself that was being drug away from the beach. The rain pelted down from the sky, putting out the magnificent fire in a long, angry hiss, as well as the rest our short night.

A small part of me noted sadly that there wouldn't be any fireworks tonight.

"Do you remember where you parked?" Kim called from underneath the hood of her rain jacket; I made a mental note to start carrying one wherever I went now, as all the locals seem to. She was practically yelling over the howl of the wind, and even then I had to strain to hear her.

"Yeah." I called back, pulling my hand out of her slippery grasp. "I'll see you later!"

She waved back, ducked under Jared's arm, and took off to the other side of the parking lot.

I ran, carefully but quickly, straight up the hill and towards my car. People were laughing loudly and yelling to each other around me, and I was thankful for the passing headlights that lit up the darkness as I searched for the key to my door. I was soaked to the bone now, my dress stuck to my body and my wet hair whipping around my chilled face. Despite the light, I fumbled with the wet metal for several moments, before groaning and looking up into the storm clouds in exhasperation.

_Really? _I thought to myself as the rain streamed down my face. I needed to keep a grasp on my concentration, but it was hard when that face kept popping into my mind every other second. And the rain storm wasn't making things much better.

I felt the entire back of my body warm up, as if someone had placed a heater directly behind me, and then an oddly calming voice sounded a few inches behind my upturned head.

"Need some help with that?"

I whipped around almost painfully fast, and found myself face to face with the man from my dream.

Only this time, it wasn't a dream. He was here, smiling down at me as if we weren't both being pelted by the angry storm, and offering to help me get into my car. I gave a short laugh at the normality for the situation. He seemed like he wanted to laugh, too, though I was sure that he would think I was crazy if he could see into my mind at that moment.

"Um, yeah, that'd be great." I handed him my car keys without a second thought and moved to the side to let him have at it. He smiled at me before stepping up to the door. He was standing very close to me, at an awkward angle. I noticed that his enormous body was blocking most of the wind and rain that was blowing my way, and I found myself ducking closer to him for more shelter.

He noticed this too, and shrugged out of his black rain coat, handing it to me with an expression I could only take as hopeful.

"Here, it'll keep you warmer. I can't promise that it'll keep you any dryer, though." He was eyeing my dress, looking me up and down for a split second. With any other guy, I would have been put off by the action. But with him, it wasn't creepy; it was more like he was taking me in than checking me out.

"Oh," I took the jacket, still surprised by the blantant kindness of this complete stranger. "Thank you very much."

He was right about it keeping me warm. As soon as I pulled it over my shoulders-it kept sliding off though, because of the size, and the sleeves were way too long for me-I felt as though I had just stepped into a comfortablly warm oven. I stood next to him easily, watching him as he worked.

He was exactly as I had seen him. Although my subconcious had previously blocked him from my memory, the glass had been removed and I could now easily compare the man from my dream to the man standing in the pouring rain to unlock my car for me.

He was huge, towering above my five foot three by a foot and at least a few more inches. Muscles rippled his arms, long and sleak, the rain making them glisten in a way that made my cheeks flame up. The same dark hair and dark eyes I remembered, though even more beautiful now that I was _really_ seeing them this time.

Those eyes met mine suddenly, shimmering with the same emotion I had seen from across the fire. He had worked more quickly than I had for sure, holding the car door opened for me and waiting for me to climb in. I did as I was expected, taking my keys from him in the process. I hesitated with one foot out of the car, a part of me wanting to hold on to this man for a little longer.

"Thank you so much. You really just saved me." I said, my tone joking but my face serious. I felt oddly at ease around this stranger, but something was spiking my attention more than usual.

"I'm happy to be of service. I'm Embry, by the way."

"Allie," I answered him, sticking out a hand. He met mine with one of his, and took it into his massive grasp. The heat of his skin overwhelmed my palm, but I didn't complain. The contact made my heart flutter, and since he made no immediate move to pull away, neither did I.

"I hope to see you around, Allie." Embry tilted his head to the side slightly and furrowed his brows, as if thinking deeply of something. I smiled at his sincere tone.

"I really do, too." I answered back, surprisingly honest. We were still standing, hand in hand, in the unyielding storm, staring at each other with secrets and questions lurking in both our eyes.

There was a small sound, something I hardly heard over the screech of the wind, and suddenly my hand was without its new partner. Embry took a few steps back, seeming unwilling to leave for whatever reason he had to go, before turning completely away and jogging off into the rain.

I stared after him for a second, wondering why he was heading towards the beach rather than his car, before realizing I still had on his jacket.

"Wait!" I called after him, with no avail. He was far gone, just a shadow against the curtain of rain now.

I climbed into my car, and turned on the heater. In this small space free of rain, I could smell the delightfully musky scent lingering on the too-big coat. I smiled to myself. I cranked the car and pulled easily out onto the main road, praying silently to myself that this wasn't just another dream.


End file.
